Bad Hair=Good News!

This past weekend a group of us (Mike, Ya'el, John, Katheryn, Elizabeth, and I) attended the "Family Reunion" hosted by the Simple Way in Philadelphia. As always, it was a very inspiring time filled with a lot of great conversation, dreaming, scheming, fun, and reflection. I'll try to get some pictures up in the next few days and maybe share a little more about the actual gathering. But for now I wanted to share one particular anecdote that I thought was pretty cool. I think that Mike was really more deeply radicalized by this weekend, and the first place that this showed up was in his new hairstyling, prominently featured on the car trip homeward. On the last leg of the trip we stopped to get something to eat at a Wendy's in Huntington, West Virginia. I was ordering when I noticed Mike was sitting at a table with Ya'el and an elderly couple, and they seemed to be talking pretty intently. When I got my order I went over and sat down with them, and discovered that they were talking about the nature of our trip, with the older gentleman saying that he thought that he had read something about the Simple Way in a recent newspaper article. He and his wife kindly asked several questions relating to our beliefs on different points of Christian doctrine, seeking (it seemed) to weigh-out whether or not we believed in the "core" teachings of the Bible. It was a nice chat and I told them that I would send them some information to help them understand more about the movement that we were attempting to describe (New Monasticism). Anyhow, after we left the Wendy's, Mike told us that the older gentleman had been staring at him (really, his new hair), turning away quickly when Mike looked his way. He said that the real connection happened when he and Ya'el blessed the food. Apparently the older gentleman was pretty surprised by the combination of hair and holiness. At that point Mike invited he and his wife to join him at the table, and it was the beginning of a serendipitous connection between long lost family members. Anyhow, I think that I'd lost faith in the value of hair as a missionary tool. How I wish now that I still had some noteworthy hair. But that's all for now, I've actually got to get going so I can make my hair appointment!